The disposal of cigarettes by casting away burning cigarettes without thought of the consequences can and often does cause damage. This may range from a burn mark in a floor or its covering, a house fire or in the worst case a bush fire with sometimes dire consequences.
Cigarettes are most often smoked down to a short length whereupon they are discarded with the remnants of the tobacco column alight. As such, the discarded butt constitutes a fire hazard. Many conscientious smokers stamp on the burning butt to extinguish it, while others may simply throw the burning butt aside without thought of the possible consequences. As a result, the haphazard disposal of cigarettes constitutes a significant damage threat to property and people.
Another frequent occurrence is damage to furniture by placing a burning butt onto the surface of a piece of furniture. While such damage may often be only superficial it may significantly degrade the value of the burnt article which may, as a result of the burn require costly repairs.
This invention aims to reduce the potential for damage being caused to property and people by improperly discarded cigarettes. This invention further aims to provide cigarettes which, even when disposed of haphazardly as a burning butt, will self-extinguish so as to minimise the risk of setting alight a flammable medium into or onto which the burning butt is discarded.
Many smokers only rarely discard cigarettes when the tobacco column is completely burnt away, leaving only the filter. While the reason for this is not known by the applicant it is possible that the unburnt tobacco column remaining behind the burning end acts as a preliminary filter of the nicotine laden smoke with the result that the nicotine content of the smoke gradually increases during smoking. As a result the taste of the smoke becomes sufficiently unpleasant and, probably subconsciously at that stage, the cigarette is discarded as a burning butt. This results in the disposal of cigarettes which remain alight and thus have the potential to cause significant damage.
There have been studies conducted which suggest that much of the undesirable smoke pollutants which are puffed from a cigarette are inhaled during puffing the near end of the tobacco column. Thus any means which limits the smoke inhalation during the burn of the tobacco column at the filter end has the potential to reduce inhalation of some pollutants from a cigarette.
A typical packet cigarette is made from a column of tobacco wrapped in cigarette paper and joined to a filter plug by the wrap of tipping paper which overlaps a portion of the butt of the tobacco column, the filter plug medium itself being wrapped in a plug wrap. All of these components are assembled to form the particular property of a cigarette which is enjoyed by a smoker and a vast amount of money is spent promoting respective brands and types each having a particular characteristic determined by the mix of factors of each element utilised in the construction of cigarettes.
This invention aims to provide improvements to cigarettes, components therefore and methods of manufacture which will alleviate at least one of the abovementioned disadvantages.